Recording from SweDev and SEI’s dialogue series on development research on 6 March 2024.
Photo: mizoula / Getty Images.
The Development Policy and Finance Team at Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and the Swedish Development Research Network (SweDev) proudly present Janet Vähämäki and Susanna Alexius as keynote speakers in the dialogue series on development research held on 6 March 2024.
Topic
Join Susanna Alexius and Janet Vähämäki as they discuss findings from their newly launched book “Obsessive Measurement Disorder or Pragmatic Bureaucracy? Coping with Uncertainty in Development Aid Relations”. The book is an outcome of a longer research project in which the authors have scrutinized the concept of ‘Obsessive Measurement Disorder’, i.e. what causes an increase in control mechanisms in aid and development organisations? How and when can this prove counterproductive, and what can be done about it? The authors discuss how this concept is related to the quest for certainty in the field of development aid and suggest coping mechanisms and responses that may help to prevent the extremes of obsessive measurement disorder, and instead foster pragmatic, constructive organizing and learning that benefits not only aid organizations and their employees, but also – and more fundamentally – the societies in need.
Speakers
Susanna Alexius, Associate Professor in Business Administration, is a Research Director at the Stockholm Centre for Organizational Research (SCORE) at Stockholm University with an extensive background in organizational research.
Janet Vähämäki, PhD in Business Administration, is a Senior Researcher and Team Lead at Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) with a long background in development aid practice.
Duncan Green is a Professor in Practice at the LSE’s International Development, Strategic Adviser at Oxfam GB, and Director of the Global Executive Leadership Initiative’s Influencing Programme. He is also the author of the blog “From Poverty to Power”.
Welcoming remarks by Carly Evaeus, Project Manager at SEI.